Student Protests in Qom Reach Tentative Conclusion
Students to be transferred to other colleges, Fatimieh to be closed down

It's been two months since the students of Fatimieh College of Medical Sciences of Qom staged their sit-in protests in front of The Ministry of Health in Tehran. After days and nights of camping out on the streets, the students - many of whom fell ill from sitting and sleeping overnight in the cold - broke their sit-in for the Aid-e Nowruz holidays. They promised to return after the break, but when the time arrived, many stayed at home, sick and tired from their last attempt. The protest had ended in Tehran, and the students returned to Qom to resume their struggle there. Newspaper accounts on their status since their Tehran sit-in have been sporadic and scarce, so I attempted to discover what had happened by speaking to a former employee at Shahid Beheshti Hospital, affiliated with Fatimieh College. Much of the students' complaints and demands were already listed in their declaration (cf. March 13 edition, Bad Jens).

Shahid Beheshti Hospital in Qom was once one of the most prestigious hospitals in Iran. Built by Americans under the Shah, it boasted a seven-story complex, carrying1000 beds and the latest medical equipment. Its team included top physicians from Tehran, and its location next to the main expressway between Qom and Tehran was ideal.

Seven years ago, the hospital was placed under the auspices of Bonyad-e Shahid (Foundation of the Martyr) and was supervised by Ms. Fatemeh Karubi (also a representative in the 5th Majlis), who was equally responsible for several other hospitals in Iran. After years of losing money, high hospital maintenance costs, and rumors of corruption within upper management, the Foundation decided to relieve itself of its burden.

Fatimieh College of Medical Sciences did not have a hospital, and was looking for one to affiliate itself with. According to the former employee of the hospital, "Literally overnight, the hospital was transferred to Fatimieh. One day I came to work, and they said that Fatimieh had taken over, and things changed drastically afterwards."

The head of the all-women's Fatimieh College, Dr. Labaaf, decided that the hospital should treat women only, and that it should be staffed and run by only women as well. The male employees were removed from the hospital- some were transferred to other hospitals and jobs, and the less qualified employees were left to their own devices. The available hospital beds dropped from 1000 to 300. However, on average, only 70 beds were occupied, the rest remained empty.

Hospitals receive many of their patients from their emergency departments, and Shahid Beheshti was no different. The policy was to accept and treat men with serious injuries in the emergency department only, and then transfer them to another hospital for their continued treatment. "When you kick men out, you make a lot of enemies," the ex-employee of the hospital told me. "The men who had lost their jobs were angry, families were disrupted, divorces occurred, some even became addicts. The men who would come to the hospital for care would get angry and shout, and I really can't blame them. They needed care, and there was nothing we could do but send them away."

"We were exasperated and frustrated too," she added, "When a piece of medical equipment, like from the radiology department, would break down, we would have to call an engineer from outside to come and fix it. That could take a couple of days. What would we do in the meantime? The hospital hadn't hired any female engineers."

Under these conditions, the medical students and interns from Fatimieh College came to the hospital for clinical training. There were about 600 students for the 60 to 70 beds that were occupied - 40 were in obstetrics, and the remaining were for relatively minor conditions such as appendicitis. "These medical students were being exposed to a very small and limited range of medical conditions. It became a joke amongst the staff- and we used to tell them- that these students, the future doctors of our country, knew almost nothing. They were poorly trained, and ill-prepared, and they knew it."

Poor clinical training and the lack of patients were only two of the difficult conditions to which they were subjected. Incoming students at Fatimieh College were misled into believing that the college was a semi-public institution, when in fact Fatimieh is private, and supposedly nonprofit. In Iran, students at public colleges benefit from affiliations with other public institutions. These colleges and universities are not only more respected, but future employment opportunities, and the transferral of jobs within the system, are accessible and frequent. Private institutions are left to their own inter-/intra-networking systems. Students were soon to find out that, not only were they subjected to poor training conditions, but they also had little hope for future employment - Fatimieh was not associated with any public institution, so there was little hope for job prospects in their future.

The students were placed under tremendous pressure. As stated in their declaration of protest, they had to sign a statement in which they basically forewent many of their rights to the officials of the university. The said source explained, "on the one hand, they enjoyed nice living accommodations, they were well taken care of, and Dr. Labaaf was very protective of her 'girls,' but on the other hand, all aspects of their lives were controlled. Everyone had to pray during prayer time- there was no choice in the matter- and the girls were encouraged and sometimes even pressured to talk about their personal and family problems. Personally, I think the girls just snapped. They couldn't handle the pressures anymore. The problems are deeper than not having enough patients to treat- they were subjected to control at the college, and then they were subjected to a hospital where the conditions were deteriorating by the day. The stressful living conditions and their inadequate training, the lack of opportunity to interact with members of the opposite sex when they went to the hospital, the lack of freedom... it all became too much.

"I remember going to the prayer room during noon prayer time at the university one day- after the prayers were finished, the girls got up and all started singing these Arabic verses. It was so strange, I really didn't know what they were singing or what the meaning of it was. They went on for a good hour. I swear, by the end of it, my head was spinning."

A few days ago, the Fatimieh students, frustrated by the lack of response to their demands, raided and occupied the college. President Khatami had announced that the Ministry of Health would address their demands, but no action had been taken since. A number of the students still support Dr. Labaaf, though most consider her removal from the post of head of the college one of the movement's biggest victories (Labaaf is reportedly a powerful woman with vast government connections that reach to the top of the power chain). It was once rumors of Dr. Labaaf's possible return had reached the opposition group that it occupied the college in response.

The women took turns guarding the college until - as rumor has it - a group of hospital drivers paid by the administration of Fatimieh attacked the students and beat them up. The women responded by going to court and filing a complaint against the attackers, and turning to Ayatollah Meshkini, an Emam Jom'eh and one of the most powerful local Ayatollahs. They demanded a response to their repeatedly denied requests for help.

As it currently stands, the governor of Qom is taking responsibility for solving the students' problems. Fatimieh College will probably be closed down and two other colleges have agreed to accept its students. As long as the students pay for this year's tuition, and provided their exam results are up to par, they'll be accepted in either college, and will be able to continue their studies in their respective fields. Fatimieh will not turn into a public institution, protected and supervised by the government as the students had requested. Nonetheless, it does seem as if it's the hinge that squeaks that gets the grease.

MS

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